


Letting Go

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [18]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Grief/Mourning, M/M, Witchcraft, benarmie, pet death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-02 00:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16294952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day18: ResurrectionHux is devastated when he gets a phone call from his estranged brother telling him that their beloved childhood pet has succumbed to old age. Ben does his best to comfort Hux but there really is only one way Hux will get through this.He needs Millicent back. And Ben has a book of spells.





	Letting Go

An indigo sky twinkled with the smattering of stars that streetlights allowed to shine through, and the air promised a crisp, morning frost. A few lights shone softly from windows but even they winked off, one by one, as the early hours forced even the most determined insomniac into a pretence of sleep. Ben peered out of the car window and reached over to tap Hux on the shoulder. “Now,” he said. “I think we can try it now.”  
Hux smiled up from a face still furnished with blotchy red cheeks and puffy eyes.

Earlier there had been a terse phone call. Hux had a brother, a fact new to Ben, and the brother had taken care of their beloved family pet when Brendol and Maratelle could no longer be bothered with the routines of feeding and cleaning.  
“He just showed up at their house one day with a pet carrier,” said Hux. “I should have done it. She was my best girl. But I was in a rented flat where pets weren’t allowed.”  
Ben held Hux while he wept with frustrated regret. “Oh honeybee, he was good to her? Wasn’t he? Must have been. He said she was twenty.”  
Hux nodded into Ben’s shoulder. “But I should have been good to her too.”  
“Well.” Ben sighed. “I guess we could have a pet. We could go to the rescue centre tomorrow and—“  
“Wouldn’t be the same,” Hux said. “Millie was special.”  
Ben rocked Hux from side to side. “You know,” he said with a slight shrug, “I borrowed that book on modern witchcraft from Holdo’s house in case it came in useful. Do you think there might be something in there?”  
Ben had meant a spell to dull the sharp pain of grief that racked Hux’s mind, or a comforting ritual to ease the passage of the soul of a beloved animal to wherever happy pets were meant to go. But the page Hux opened at immediately was for something quite different. Ben raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”  
Hux nodded. “He scattered her ashes under her favourite bush. He said it was the rhododendron nearest the wall on the north east corner. We could go there tonight, when it’s quiet.”

Ben didn’t have it in him to refuse, so here they were, waiting for the right moment. When it seemed like they were the only humans still alert, Ben and Hux opened the car doors and got out. They closed the doors as quietly as they could and climbed the railing into the little strip of garden shared by all the houses on Hux’s brother’s street. The spot was easy to find and Ben laid out all the herbs and other items he’d collected for the ritual.

The spell was not in Latin. This incantation was far older than Roman times and Ben had no clue if he was even pronouncing the words correctly. He followed the phonetic script with his lips and the copy of the original inscription with his fingers. Hux lit a candle when Ben nodded to him and scattered herbs onto the bare soil, swept clear of browned leaves earlier by Hux’s brother. Ben took the candle from Hux and tipped it onto its side in the middle of the cleared patch. The candle went out. They knelt on the cold ground for a few more minutes whilst foxes grubbed around nearby and more leaves fluttered down in the still air.  
“Come on, babe,” Ben said. “It was a long shot.”  
Hux snuffled. “Bye, Millie. Sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

Hux did not speak for the drive home and Ben let him have his moments of quiet. Only when Ben parked in the rough lane behind their back-to-back did Hux smile at him.  
“Thank you. You thought that was pointless but you did it for me anyway. I appreciate it.”  
Ben shrugged. “It wasn’t pointless. You could let her go.”  
“I don’t know what I’d do with a geriatric cat anyway. William said it was just her time to go. She’s been struggling for a few weeks and the vet wasn’t able to offer anything more than pain meds.”  
“Come on,” Ben said. “Let’s get inside.”  
They locked the car and went through the tall wooden gate into their high-walled rectangle of concrete that served as a backyard. Ben got his house key ready to unlock the back door while Hux secured the gate. Ben stopped and stared at the doorstep.  
“Hux? Babe? Look.”  
Hux stood behind Ben for a couple of seconds while his eyes focused in the light reflected from a high, crescent moon made spherical by earthlight. Then he shoved past Ben and gathered up the small creature that had been cowering in the corner where the step met the wall.  
“Oh you’re cold! Ben, open the door, will you?” He tucked the ginger and white scrap into the front of his coat. “Where did you come from, then? Well. You’re ours now. We have tuna.”  
Ben shook his head and led the way indoors. He got a saucer from the cupboard and opened a can of tuna, tipping half of it onto the saucer and setting it on the floor. Hux put the kitten down and it tucked in, purring while it ate.  
“I think,” Hux said quietly, “we’ll call it Millicent the second.”


End file.
